The LDS Air Force Wife: Get Away weekend in Tokyo

Last year we purchased a Tokyo get away with ITT for half price and we have been looking forward to this weekend. Josh and I love to take the ITT buses because we like to nap and read and the kids love to watch the movies they show and play on their tablets and sticker books. We tried to impress upon the kids that we will be going to the biggest city they have ever been in. We stayed at the New Sanno hotel, a Navy hotel in Tokyo. It was kind of nice to be in an American run hotel.

We hit the Tokyo streets for two days, not long enough. The Tokyo LDS temple was only a 10 min walk from the hotel so we headed their first. It is not very big and just on a street corner. There are really no grounds but there is a big park, Arisugawanomiya park, right across the street and we explored that. We also noticed all the embassy’s surrounding the temple. We are truly in an international city.

Tiny grounds in Japanese style

We took the rail system all over Tokyo. It was a little confusing in that there are three lines but I think we figured it out by the end. We did not ever get lost but just had to orient ourselves at each station. We headed to Tokyo tower first. It was full of animae gift shops that we did not know anything about but we enjoyed going up to the observation deck (250 meters up) to see the view of the city. It really is buildings for as far as you can see. They had a cool look down window that gave a good perspective of how high we were up.

Tokyo from the Tokyo tower

Look down window

We also briefly wandered the grounds of the Zojoji temple right by the tower. The wooden gate of the temple remains as the original architectural remainder of the early 17^th century and is designated as an important cultural property of Japan.

Next we took the train to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace. The gardens are expansive and were created as part of the renovation project of the Imperial Palace grounds. The gardens are located in the eastern part of the Imperial Palace grounds and occupy main quarters of the former Edo Castle. I am always impressed by the stone walls that surround the castles in Japan. We also walked through Tokyo station, a Renaissance-style red brick building.

First cherry blossoms we have seen in Japan

Original Lookout tower walls

The Japanese gardens have a very distinctive look

Tokyo Station

Wadakura Fountain Park by the Imperial Palace Grounds

We ventured to the famous Shibuya crossing. The lights turn red all at the same time and everyone floods into the street to cross from all different angles. It really was fun and energetic, and I was laughing at all of us taking pictures of people in the street. It was exciting and the shops and restaurants were appealing there.

I am standing in the Starbucks that overlooks Shibuya crossing. Bub was scared of everyone being in the street at the same time but the girls have no qualms about being hams.

Our second day in Tokyo we spent most of the day at the Ueno Park Zoo. It is Japan’s oldest zoo and we enjoyed the different animals. They are famous for their pandas and the kids were thrilled to see them. We like going to zoos in Japan because there are different animals from what we might see in our zoos.

I love my hammy girls. Bub was really scared and wincing.

We have never seen Asian elephants before in a zoo

After the zoo we went to the Tsukiji Market, the largest fish market in the world. We did not know that we should have arrived here first thing in the day and so we were disappointed that most things were closed for the day. We did see the Tsukiji Hongwanji Buddhist Temple as it was right by the fish market grounds. It dates back to 1617 when Tokyo was still Edo.